Chai Energy, a special purpose vehicle, plans to raise approximately $300mn through an initial public offering (IPO) to acquire stakes in two operating independent power producers (IPPs), in a transaction that could become the largest flotation in the Ghana Stock Exchange’s history.

The proposed offering, valued at about GHS3.5bn, is expected to comprise preference shares with dollar-indexed returns, according to a source familiar with the transaction and a deal document reviewed by Business & Financial Times on October 28.

The vehicle intends to acquire equity in existing generating companies rather than finance new electricity capacity. The structure is intended to give Ghanaian pension funds, financial institutions and retail investors exposure to operating power assets, including stakes that may become available as foreign shareholders reduce or dispose of their holdings. According to the transaction proposal, the strategy could allow a greater share of returns from Ghana’s electricity industry to accrue to domestic investors.

Chai Energy has already applied to Ghana’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for approval and is tentatively targeting November for the offering, the newspaper reported. Approval has not been announced, and admission to trading would also require Ghana Stock Exchange approval.

A fully subscribed offer would exceed the GHS1.15bn raised in 2018 by MTN Ghana (GSE: MTNGH), the listed subsidiary of South African telecommunications group MTN (JSE: MTN), in the exchange’s largest completed primary share offering. MTN Ghana had offered shares worth about GHS3.48bn, close to Chai Energy’s planned size, but raised only 33% of that amount, African Markets reported at the time.

The offering would come as Ghana seeks to stabilise the finances of its electricity sector, where payment arrears, distribution losses and costly generation contracts have weighed on power producers and public finances. Energy and Green Transition Minister John Abdulai Jinapor said in August that IPPs were now receiving about 100% of their invoiced amounts, compared with about 42% previously, and that the government had cleared about $1.47bn in legacy energy-sector debt, the Ghana News Agency reported.

The International Monetary Fund estimated Ghana’s annual energy-sector financing shortfall at $1.4bn in 2025, down from $1.6bn in 2024, and projected a further decline to $1.1bn in 2026. Net payables to power producers and fuel suppliers fell to $1.7bn at the end of March 2026 from $2.1bn at the end of 2024, but the Fund identified high collection and distribution losses, costly generation contracts with capacity charges and take-or-pay clauses, and large legacy debt as continuing pressures.

For investors, improved payment collection could strengthen the cash flow of the generating companies Chai Energy intends to acquire, although shareholder returns would also depend on operating costs, financing obligations and the terms of their power purchase agreements.

Key details remain undisclosed, however. The identities of the two target power producers, the status of any acquisition agreements, valuations and the final preference-share terms, including dividend rights, the dollar-indexation mechanism and any redemption provisions, have not been disclosed.